When I attended the dedication of the Polk County Courthouse in 1987, county officials proudly proclaimed this new building would take care of the needs of the local judicial system for 20 years.

It’s now 25 years later.

Bartow, we have a problem.

In fact, one of probably the least-discussed infrastructure problems linked to population growth in Florida is the need to expand public office space to meet the demands for service.

Some Florida counties have been far-sighted enough to add a public facilities impact fee as away to build up money to pay for the inevitable expansion of these facilities that are as needed as new parks, new fire stations and wider roads.

Polk County is not among them. That will leave the solution up to the taxpayers, new and old.

I bring this up because next Tuesday the County Commission will be asked to approve a recommendation to negotiate a contract with Heery International, an Atlanta-based firm, to analyze the space needs in the courthouse and in the nearby Lawrence Crow Building. That study will involve how to find the space to meet the demands for everything from judge’s offices to the various other offices that serve the public involving everything from recording deeds to getting a marriage license.

At this point it’s unknown what the study will cost and what implementing anything the consultant recommends will cost. I’ll stick my neck out here and suggest that a worthwhile study will probably define short-term and long-term space needs and that we’ll be talking seven or eight figures here.

It will be one of the challenges the new County Commission will face.

It’s also fair to wonder if there are any consolidation opportunities that the Polk County Efficiency Commission, which will convene next year, will address in next year’s budget.